Differences in Impressions and Truth
by Tears of Dragons
Summary: The Seirin team thought that they knew who Aomine Daiki was, until he makes an unexpected visit. In which the events of episode 27 happen again, only flipped. Slight Aomomo.


_*Sort of a twist in roles from the incident in Episode 27._

It was a rather normal day for club activities, with the only downer being the plundering rain outside of the gym doors. The Seirin team was in the middle of their practice, with the usual in-team practice matches and drills. Doing everything that literally screamed "normal".

Which was perhaps why the entire team was not ready for their unexpected visitor.

During the third quarter of their game, there was a rather odd knock on the gym doors. Given the rain outside, it took the visitor a good five tries until Furihata managed to notice the new sound.

"Furihata! Ball!" Izuki screamed, having made a chest pass to the said player.

With the loss of concentration from the first-year, the ball, without mistake, flew straight to the poor boy's cheek. Furihata, upon the ball's impact, made a choking sound, followed by a thud as he fell to the floor. The game came to an abrupt stop, with the entire team rushing to see the wellbeing of Furihata.

"Furihata, you alright? What were you doing, lost in thought during a match?" Hyuga exclaimed, brows furrowed in concern. Furihata made a muffled sound in response.

Riko sighed at the boy's reaction, and pushed a cold towel to his cheek, watching as the boy slowly sat up.

"Furihata, you were bound to receive that, you know. What happened?"

Still clutching his cheek, the boy pointed to the direction of the door. "I heard a knock when Izuki-senpai passed me the ball."

"Huh?"

Riko rose her eyebrow at the door, not able to hear anything, but told Kawahara to open it regardless. With a dash, the boy pried the door open, only to scream in astonishment.

"Aomine!?"

"WHAT!?" The team burst out, and, momentarily forgetting Furihata, ran to the door.

Surely enough, there was the Tōō ace, completely soaked, and wearing nothing but his school uniform.

The ace made no move to the team's dumbfounded expressions, only saying with a quiet tone,

"Is Tetsu here?"

00000

Riko couldn't help but be surprised at the familiar situation, with the only difference being that this was the ace of the team Momoi came from, not the girl herself. Once again, the group of high schoolers were left standing in shock, making a circle around the boy seated, with only Kuroko's voice coaxing Aomine to speak the only sound in the gymnasium.

"Tell me what happened, Aomine-kun," Kuroko said, his voice light as he patting the navy-haired boy's shoulder reassuringly.

"Tetsu… That woman! She just doesn't get it, can't she just freaking see that I'm trying to _help her_? Can't she just be sensible for once and actually _listen_ to her mother!? Thinks she's so strong and smart, just look where that took her! And she tells _me_ that I'm the idiot! What the heck!? I swear, if she just let me…"

With a huff, Kuroko rose his voice to interrupt Aomine's rant.

"Aomine-kun! Please, slow down. Tell me what happened, step-by-step." Kuroko said, his voice firm, giving his former light a shake to the shoulders.

If it were any other time, Riko's practically sure that the entire team would almost be doubling over in laughter by Aomine's speech, if not for seeing just how scared the Tōō ace looked, with his completely distressed look, fear glazing his sharp azure eyes. The boy, during his rant, had both of his hands in his hair, fingers tugging at the short blue strands. The usual smirk he wore was gone, and the creases that defined his features now shifted to lines of stress and worry. What made it worse was that the team had never, not once, seen nor heard Aomine say so much in such a little time. The teen had ultimately dropped his pride, and paid absolutely no heed to how much vulnerability he was showing them, though they were almost strangers.

It was such a big difference to the usual Aomine Daiki they knew, that it was to the point of terrifying. Even Kagami, who would laugh at the ace to any chance that he came fell silent, utterly lost as to what to say or do. Rather, the whole team was in this state, and could only listen as the former Teiko teammates conversed.

"So… what happened, Aomine-kun? Did Momoi-san get hurt?" Kuroko prompted, having already guessed the reason for this visit.

Aomine bit his lip, and, having lost his steam, quieted down.

"Yeah, she did, that idiot."

"And…?"

Aomine put his face in his hands, and with a muffled voice, answered, "She went hiking with a couple of her classmates, and her stupid friend just had to be the daredevil and try climbing one of the harder mountains. Of course, the idiot just had to comply. She hasn't gone hiking once in her life, you know! Then somewhere along the way, she tripped, and fell down. She sprained an ankle… and _broke an arm…_ goddamnit… "

At the news, a quick flicker of shock flew through Kuroko's face, until the shadow composed himself.

"You… weren't there, Aomine-kun?"

The said ace gritted his teeth. "I was _going to…_ until the _stupid woman_ told me to stay behind, because I was _too intimidating,_ or something along the lines of that crap. If she just let me go with her… "

Kuroko let a small sigh out. "Aomine-kun, is she in any immediate danger?"

"No… just freaking stuck to the hospital bed for _a_ _month…"_

Then Kuroko made a small smile, and pushed the navy-haired boy to sit upright.

"Then you don't have to keep worrying, Aomine-kun. It wasn't your fault, and I'm sure Momoi-san knows that, and is waiting for you to see her. So pull yourself together, Aomine-kun, and go see Momoi-san,"

"Tetsu… yeah." The teen pinched his nose, then got up. "You're right, Tetsu."

And what he did next, almost made Riko's heart stop, because it sure didn't look anything like the Aomine she knew.

The said boy made a heart wrenching smile, a genuine one, his usually sharp eyes softened to the point it looked like he was about to cry.

"Thanks, Tetsu."

Keeping the reassuring smile, Kuroko ushered the Tōō ace out of the gym, handing him an umbrella, and within minutes, the boy was nowhere to be seen.

It took a good moment for the Seirin team to completely process what had happened. When they did, though, they stared at Kuroko in amazement.

Kagami was the first one to speak. "Kuroko, you sure are relied on,"

Kuroko made a small smile. "Well, Aomine-kun and Momoi-san were my best friends in Teiko."

Kagami scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Huh… but it sure is surprising that Ahomine really cared for that girl. I didn't think that he could care less about her."

Kuroko rose an eyebrow. "Kagami-kun, Aomine-kun isn't a bad person. He really cares for all of us former Teiko members, you know? He was really angry when someone wanted to hurt Kise-kun, and helped me more than once. And Momoi-san is his childhood friend, no less. Of course Aomine-kun would be scared for her."

Kiyoshi made a chuckle then.

"Kiyoshi! Can't you read the mood for once, idiot?" Hyuga burst out, angered by the odd action.

"No, Hyuga, that's not what I meant. I just thought that we've really been quite rude to Aomine-kun, no? Actually, all of the Miracles, to be honest."

"Is that right?" Hyuga said, not believing the words.

"Quite so. It seems we've alienated them, and instantly thought that they're what they show. They're still normal high-schoolers. Right, Kuroko?"

Kuroko smiled. "Yeah, they are."


End file.
